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Familiars
A Familiar is a creature that is the pet or companion of an individual and is bonded to that individual, such as by magic or mind control. Advantages A key trait of having a familiar is the significant power gain that both sides experience. This can be abilities being strengthened or gaining new uses, senses heightened, physical or psychic power improved, and even one side gaining powers the other side possesses. Both sides also heal more quickly, as one can draw on the energy of the other in order to speed up healing. A master and familiar can also easily read each others' thoughts, a valuable asset in combat. A master and its familiar do not age and will not die of natural causes. Disadvantages Two disadvantages that come from the minds of the two sides being so tightly linked are a significant loss of individuality as time passes as well as psychic attacks being able to target both through the mind of one. In addition to this, when one dies, that side still continues to draw on the energy of the other in order to heal- however it is impossible to simply heal the life back into a corpse in that fashion. What ends up happening, invariably, unless the dead individual is revived, is all the energy- including life energy- is drained from the living partner, eventually causing that partner's body systems to fail, often resulting in a heart attack. This takes an average of twelve hours depending on the manner of death, which side survived(familiars die more quickly), and whether or not the living partner was injured. Types and Methods of Bonding Bound by Magic There are several spells at the disposal of any skilled mage that allow the binding of a familiar. Any one of these spells can be used on any animal, usually a smaller animal than the caster, though large creatures such as dragons have been known to be bound. These familiars are often used to strengthen the effectiveness of spells and can be considered the classic "pet" of the mage in question. The only requirement of binding a familir via magic is both sides must be aware of the result. Mind Control One of the more controversial methods of binding a familiar is to use a form of mind control such as necromancy or dracomancy, however contrary to the name, these familiars are willing creatures who can break their link with their master any time they like. They are also very often powerful creatures, sometimes more powerful than their masters, especially in the case of dracomancers where a dragon is bound. In order to bind a familiar via mind control, three conditions must be met: *The target must not be unwilling- they must offer no resistance. A truly unwilling target will resist, whether aware of it or not. Failure to meet this requirement while meeting the other two will result in creating a slave stripped of all free will, not a familiar. *The master must use their mind control at full force, without holding back or being distracted by anything else. Failure to meet this requirement will result in a normal binding, ie, the target will still retain its free will but be unable to resist orders, break the link on their own, and will not gain the benefits of a familiar, nor will the master. *The master must intend for the target to fully retain its free will. While this may seem contradictory to the second requirement, it is not only possible but vital to meet both requirements. Failure to meet this requirement will result in the target being stripped of all free will. It is possible to bind a familiar in this fashion without the target actually being willing. If the target has lost all control of itself, there is technically no mind to control. While this prevents existing mind control from working if the target is under the influence when not berserk, it does not prevent it from being subjected to new mind control. As long as the target is not in its right mind, its brain will not recognize mind control and will therefore offer no resistance to it. Binding a familiar in this case is risky as once the target returns to its senses, it can easily break the link on its own and attack its master. Eon Sensing Another less known form of familiar bonding is through the way of Eon sensing. This process is mainly used by Mantuanians or any being who possesses and manipulates Eon Energy by themselves. This type of bonding allows a sky serpent or an eon manipulator to "connect" their own eon to another being in order to either save it from the face of death, courtship, or just close-alliance bonding. The way one shares their eon is through a special sort of strand of raw Eon energy which connects with the strand of the other being, thus, creating an invisible knot or tie between the two beings. This allows the eon energies of both beings to be shared among them both, or in some cases to combine to create an even more powerful storage of eon. Usually after the two eon strands are tied, the two beings will immediately and naturally feel close and often start to feel the emotions of the other. Eon-sensing usually leads to courtship and permanent partnering. Although, there is always some rare results of this. Since Eon-Sensing is more used for courtship, sometimes Eon-sensing can lead to a much stronger form of bonding in which the being who is bonded to the other in this way can begin to read the other's thoughts and can begin to share abilities, powers, and in some cases, memories. These kinds of results are mostly a form of an established Familiar. This form of bonding is usually gained if both of the eon-sharing pair have a very great amount of trust and are naturally compatible emotionally. Disconnecting this kind of bonding is quite hard among eon manipulators, but it is still possible. Since Eon-Sensing mainly shares power, feeling, and thoughts, disconnecting this type of link usually requires both parties to sever the link by their free will. If one does not want the link to be severed, the link remains until one of them unfortunately dies. Usually when one of the bonded pair dies, the other one soon follows- although there is not a sure explanation why. Trivia *Any creature bound against its will, with the exception noted in the Mind Control section, cannot be a familiar.